Yahoo Sports Olympics AM: The GOAT
In today's edition: Biles rallies to reclaim gold, Ledecky becomes America's most decorated female Olympian, golf deserves a better format, and more.
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Biles rallies to reclaim gold
Simone Biles came out on top in Thursday's individual all-around to win her sixth gold medal, the most of any American gymnast.
Two-time champ: Biles is just the third woman to win two all-around golds in gymnastics, and the first since 1968, when it was a much different sport.
This win didn't come easy: Biles typically dominates her competition, but Thursday's final was a nail-biter. After a brutal uneven bar, she sat in third place and was seriously stressing ("I was probably praying to every single god out there," she later admitted).
If she wanted to win gold, the 27-year-old would need to nail her beam and floor routines — which she did.
A 14.566 on beam was enough to put her in the lead and a 15.066 on floor, her best event, gave her the win by 1.119 points.
The podium: Brazil's Rebecca Andrade took silver, while fellow American Sunisa Lee took bronze. Consider the stories of these three medalists…
Biles endured mental health struggles and a battle with the "twisties" three years ago in Tokyo.
Andrade, whose mother cleaned houses to pay for her training, has torn her ACL three times.
Lee was diagnosed with two rare kidney diseases last year that nearly derailed her career.
From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel:
Biles said she realizes she is "in the conversation of the greatest of all athletes." She knows that she was the reason Bercy Arena was packed with celebrities all week.
She owns — and wears — a diamond GOAT necklace, after all. "Some people love it and some people hate it, so it's the best of both worlds," she joked.
Still, deep down, she still sees herself as "Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who loves to flip."
What's next: Biles can add to her medal tally this weekend with finals in beam, vault and floor (she's heavily favored in the latter two).
Photos of the day
🇺🇸 Most decorated: Katie Ledecky won silver in the 4x200 freestyle relay to claim her 13th Olympic medal, making her the most decorated female Olympian in U.S. history.
🏀 57 straight wins: The U.S. women's basketball team beat Belgium, 87-74, to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals with their 57th straight win in the Olympics. Yes, 57.
👟 Off and running: Track and field's first full day of competition got underway this morning in Paris, where Sha'Carri Richardson dominated her preliminary heat of the 100-meter sprint.
🤺 Historic gold: Team USA beat Italy, 45-39, across nine relay rounds to win America's first-ever gold in team fencing.
Day 6 recap: More from Thursday
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Athlete spotlight: Team USA rowing won gold in the men's four on Thursday for the first time since 1960 as Justin Best, Nick Mead, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan beat out New Zealand (silver) and Great Britain (bronze).
What they're saying: "Crossing that finish line, I was just bawling my eyes out," said Best. "Seeing the flag being raised, I love these guys, I love the United States of America, and I wouldn't want to do it with another group."
A long history: These four young men spent their college years regularly facing off in intercollegiate regattas — Mead at Princeton ('17), Grady at Cornell ('19), Corrigan at Harvard ('19) and Best at Drexel ('19) — and Corrigan and Grady even rowed together as far back as 2014 at the junior world championships.
This exact crew has been rowing together for two years, "a long time for U.S. rowers who typically make boats through yearly selection races and camps," writes Peggy Shinn for Team USA.
And now, after just missing out on a medal in Tokyo and taking silver at last year's world championships, they finally got their gold.
The last word: "We have a group of four guys who love each other," said Best. "Now we have a physical reminder [the gold medal] of everything that we put in, and we'll have this for the rest of our lives."
More athletes in action:
⚽️ Benjamin Cremaschi: The 19-year-old midfielder is the youngest member of the USMNT's Olympic squad, which faces Morocco today in the quarters. He's also a rising MLS star with Inter Miami and Lionel Messi is a big fan.
🚴♀️ Alise Willoughby: The 33-year-old BMX racer and defending world champion is competing in her fourth Olympics. She took silver in 2016 but still seeks that elusive gold in today's finals.
Best of Team USA social: Bam Adebayo tries fencing … Track stars in training … Surfers enjoying their off day
Team USA: News | Athletes | Shop
Follow along at TeamUSA.com and @TeamUSA on social media.
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Watchlist: USMNT in the quarters
The USMNT's quarterfinal match against Morocco takes place today in Paris, where the Americans will seek their first Olympic semifinal berth since 2000.
Featured events:
⚽️ Men's Soccer: USA vs. Morocco (9am ET, USA); Japan vs. Spain (11am, Peacock); Egypt vs. Paraguay (1pm, Peacock); France vs. Argentina (3pm, Peacock) … Quarterfinals.
🏊 Swimming: Three medal events (2:30pm, NBC) … Men's 50m Freestyle, Women's 200m Backstroke, Men's 200m IM.
👟 Track & Field: Men's 10,000m Final (3:20pm, Peacock) … The first full day of track and field.
Medal events:
🤸♀️ Trampoline: Women's (7:50am, Peacock) and Men's Finals (1:50pm, Peacock)
🐎 Equestrian: Jumping Team Final (8am, E!)
🏸 Badminton: Mixed Doubles Final (9am, Peacock)
⛵️ Windsurfing: Men's and Women's Finals (9:30am, Peacock)
🥋 Judo: Women's 78+kg and Men's 100+kg Finals (10am, Peacock)
🏹 Archery: Mixed Team Final (10:24am, Peacock)
🤺 Fencing: Men's Épée Team Final (1:30pm, Peacock)
🎾 Tennis: Mixed Doubles Final (3pm, Peacock)
🚴🏼 BMX Racing: Men's and Women's Finals (3:30pm, Peacock)
Non-medal events: Badminton, Basketball, 3x3 Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoe Slalom, Golf, Handball, Hockey, Sailing, Shooting, Table Tennis, Track & Field, Volleyball, Water Polo.
Primetime (NBC): Men's Synchronized 3m Springboard Final (8pm), Women's Track & Field 100m Heats, Women's 200m Backstroke Final and Men's 50m Freestyle Final (9pm).
For a complete schedule, click here. Every event streams live on Peacock. Sign up here.
Golf deserves a better Olympic format
The atmosphere at Le Golf National on Thursday was humming, so it's a shame the actual golf was not. Is it time to replace the standard 72-hole format with match play or even team golf?
From Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee:
There's plenty of reasons from a logistical perspective to push for a different, shorter, punchier Olympics format.
To start, golf faces challenges not present in other sports. Unlike, say, swimming or track and field, where the Olympics is one of the sport's pinnacles, the golf world presently regards the Olympics as kind of a spiced-up field trip — more important than the weekly PGA Tour Midwest Insurance Company Classic, yes, but not quite as significant as a signature event like the Memorial or the Players, and certainly nowhere near the league of the majors.
Plus, unlike basketball, the Olympics falls in the middle of golf's season. The majors are done, yes, but the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs remain, and with them the chances for playing opportunities the next season.
So why keep with the standard four-day, 72-hole stroke play format? Why not come up with something a little more engaging to the casual fans?
Or why not go even further? Why not fully embrace the Olympics' move toward gender equality and create a mixed-team event? Why not think bigger and bolder?
"In the Olympics, you can make some special stuff. You can play team events, and you can play mixed women and men," Chile's Joaquin Niemann said. "They could mix it a little bit, make it more incentive to people to follow a country, not just follow one guy."
Lightning round
🎾 Youngest and oldest: Carlos Alcaraz, 21, beat American Tommy Paul to become the youngest men's Olympic singles semifinalist since Novak Djokovic in 2008. And Djokovic, 37, beat Stefanos Tsitsipas to become the oldest.
🏀 3x3 struggles: The American men (0-4) and women (1-3) have both struggled out of the gates. Why aren't they dominating?
🇨🇦 Wunderkind wins again: 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh won the 200m butterfly to clinch her third medal — and second gold — of these Games.
🧀 Dream sponsorship: Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa, who won silver in the team event, is sponsored by Parmigiano-Reggiano and keeps posting photos with cheese.
Daily trivia
The track at the Paris Olympics is purple, rather than the traditional red, to represent what abundant crop in the South of France?
Hint: Frequently used as an ingredient in cosmetics.
Answer at the bottom.
In non-Olympics news...
Football is back! The NFL preseason began with Thursday's Hall of Fame Game, which featured multiple new rules, including a major change to kickoffs. Where did your team land in our preseason power rankings?
Plus:
🏈 Bucs OT Tristan Wirfs signs 5-year, $141 million contract, richest ever for an O-lineman
🍿 Venu Sports, the new ESPN/Fox Sports/TNT streaming bundle, will cost $42.99/month
Trivia answer: Lavender
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